MADISON, Wis. — The nonpartisan board that oversees elections in Wisconsin too often favors Democrats and needs to be reconstituted, perhaps with a more partisan model like what previously existed, incoming Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Monday.

The Government Accountability Board was at the center of recall elections over the past two years of Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and 13 state senators, since it was in charge of reviewing petitions and setting election dates. The board also handles ethics violations, campaign finance and lobbying reports and oversees elections across the state.

Fitzgerald said Republicans were particularly frustrated with how the board handled the recall elections.

“I just don’t think they’re an independent voice at all,” Fitzgerald said, renewing frequent GOP criticism of the panel comprised of six retired judges appointed by the governor. Fitzgerald’s brother, outgoing Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, made similar comments a year ago, but the Legislature took no action.

Republicans will again have majority control of both the Senate and Assembly when the Legislature reconvenes on Jan. 7.

Incoming Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a statement that he was open to Fitzgerald’s ideas and others to improve the board. Both Vos and Fitzgerald voted in 2007, under a bipartisan deal, to create the board as it exists today. The only two votes in the Legislature against creating the board came from Assembly Democrats who are no longer in office.

Current Assembly Democratic leader Rep. Peter Barca lashed out at Fitzgerald’s suggestion for changing the board, calling it “anti-democracy legislation.”

“To me that seems laughable that retired judges wouldn’t be more independent than appointees would,” Barca said. “I don’t think it’s going to fly with the public, I think the public will see through this.”

Democrats have been frustrated with decisions of the board as well, but the solution isn’t to blow it up and replacing impartial appointees with partisan one, said incoming Democratic Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chris Larson.

“This is just a pure power grab,” he said. “If there’s anything that’s seen as even remotely fair and balanced that doesn’t favor Republicans, they’re going to try and change it for their way.”

The GAB was created in reaction to anger over how its predecessors, the Elections and Ethics boards, were working.

Ethics Board members were all appointed by the governor and officially nonpartisan. There was no pretense of nonpartisanship on the Elections Board, whose members were appointed by the governor, political parties, the state Supreme Court and legislative leaders of the state Assembly and Senate.

The Ethics Board was frequently derided as being weak and ineffectual while the Elections Board was seen as being too partisan.

But Fitzgerald said the GAB should look more like the Elections Board, with partisan political appointees.

That approach, he said, “seems to strike more of a balance than what we’re up against now.”

Too often, Fitzgerald said, the board defers to recommendations made by GAB staff. The judges don’t have enough information to go against the staff, so they typically side with them, he said.

Making the changes Fitzgerald suggests “would be a big step backward,” said David Deininger, one of the first members of the board and currently its chairman. Deininger, a former state appeals court judge from Green County, said the board has operated transparently, doesn’t always follow staff recommendations and upsets both Democrats and Republicans alike with its decisions.

“We are not approaching any decision from a political standpoint, but based on our based judgments about what the facts in the law require,” Deininger said. “From my perspective, we’ve caught it from both side based on the calls we make, just like referees at a Packers game.”

GAB director Kevin Kennedy defended the board, saying in a statement that it and its staff “are confident they have approached all matters before them in a fair, impartial, nonpartisan and transparent manner.”

“There will always be situations where an individual may question decisions by the board, but those criticisms should be evaluated based on who is making them,” Kennedy said.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in News

Michael J. Galvin, considered a “legend” in St. Paul for his decades of community service, died at age 87 on Thursday. He had suffered a stroke the week before. Galvin’s daughter, Nora, said her father loved his family and was passionate about the city of St. Paul. He was well-spoken and gave thoughtful advice, Nora Galvin said, recalling how he...

Eight years ago, it was a school on the brink of closure. This year, Carver Elementary won the Minnesota’s Future Award from the Minnesota Business Partnership — again. Carver is the only two-time winner of the award, winning it last year as well. The school will receive $50,000 and recognition at the Business Partnership’s annual dinner on Tuesday. “The three...

Mendota Heights is taking another look at how traffic from the nearby Vikings development will affect the city’s portion of Dodd Road, a two-lane, tree-lined street that runs through residential neighborhoods down to its southern border with Eagan. The city council has given city staff the OK to hire KLJ Engineering for $28,850 to conduct a comprehensive engineering study of...

Minnesota’s gray wolf population appears to have grown by 25 percent thanks to more deer, the Department of Natural Resources said Monday. The DNR’s 2016-2017 population survey estimated that Minnesota had about 500 packs and 2,856 wolves at midwinter after remaining relatively steady in the previous four surveys. The margin of error is plus or minus 500 wolves. The 2015-2016...

The former leader of an Inver Grove Heights charter school claims religious discrimination and violations of Minnesota’s whistleblower protections led to his ouster in June. Dan Hurley filed a lawsuit last week in Dakota County District Court that alleges leaders of Discovery Charter School fired him after he voiced concern the school could be violating the constitutional separation between church...

The waitress’ blank stare says it all. Outside the Midwest, people don’t understand the question “What kind of pop do you have?” It has been nearly two years since we left Minnesota, and I still cannot get it in my head that most of the country says “soda.” By now, I’ve grown used to the jokes about my accent —...